Improvement in latches for sliding doors



UNITED STATES PATENT CDEEICEu WILLIAM sELLEEs, oE NEw YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT iN LATcHEs FOR sLlDiNG DOORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. A155,468, dated September 29, 1874 applcation tiled March 10, 1874.

To all whom t may concern: j

Beit known that I, WILLIAM SELLEEs, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and `Improved Lock for Sliding Doors, of which for use on the sliding doors of streetcars, but

may also be used on all other kinds of sliding doors, and has for its object to lock a sliding'.

door in its open as well as in its shut position, automatically, so that no jarring motion of the car or body within which the door is made to move will be able to unlock the door spontaneously and cause it to change its position, wh ereas a slight motion of the handle will disengage the locking-bolt, and permit the opening or closing of the door from a reverse position.

The invention consists more particularly in connecting the handle of the lock, which is pivot-ed at one end of the door by a bar extending toward the other end, with a movable wedge or equivalent apparatus for operating the bolt, which is also arranged at the opposite end of the door, so that such bolt will be at what may be termed the inner end of the door, whereas the handle will be at what may be termedthe outer end of the door. Therefore, when the door is closed-that is, drawn across the opening which it is intended to shut-thebolt will lock it in the frame within which the door slides, while' when the door is opened-that is, slid within such last-named frame-the bolt will also lock it by entering proper recesses provided for its reception within such frame. The use of this very simple and effective lock dispenses with all upper and lower catches and fastenings which are required on Streetcar doors. lt will also permit the use of a proportionately small bolt, by which the door will most effectually be locked, and avoid the danger of Wearing the locking parts which is now experienced in the use of brass hooks and other fastenings usually employed, and it will, moreover, cause a double fastening for both positions of the door, where heretofore no such double fastening was ever devised.

In the accompanying drawing, the letter A represents the spindle of the crank-handlesa lever, C, which is at b pivoted in the door` D. y A spring, d, causes said lever C to bear against the arm or bar a. `At the end which is opposite to the pivot b the lever C is, by a pin, e, connected with a bar or rod, E, which extends from the outer end of the door toward and nearly to the inner end thereof, as shownin Fig. l. This bar E, with all the other parts of the lock, may be concealed within a recess cut in the door, as indicated in Fig. 2, so that it willnot be exposed to view in a working condition. The inner end of the bar or rod E--that is to say, the end which is opposite to the lever G--has a wedge or arrow-head, f, formed on it, and the smaller end of this head is inserted within a slot formed in the locking-bolt F. This lockingbolt, when made a sliding bolt, as shown, plays in a vertical frame, G, that is fastened to the innermost end of the door, a spring, g, constantly holding the bolt down in contact with the upper edge of the bar or rod E, and therefore the bolt has the constant tendency to be in its lo wermost position. When the crankhandle B is swung either to the right or left, the lever C will be moved by the bar a in the ldirection of the arrow, which is shown-in Fig.

l, and the bar E will consequently be moved in the same direction by the lever C. Whenever the bar E is thus moved in the direction of the arrow, its wedgeshaped or arrow head shaped end enters into the slot of the bolt E and raises said bolt against the spring g, and when raising the bolt it disengages it from the recesses or sockets which are provided for Vits reception in the casing L, within whichthe door slides, and permits the door t0 be moved either in or out. The locking part of the bolt is in the form of small lugs it, that project, as shown in Fig. 3, beyond the sides of the frame G, and, in fact, beyond the faces of the door-that is to say, they extend farther apart than the door is wide. For the reception of these lugs i I arrange inclines j l in the receiving-frame L of the door-case, the upper ends of such inclines being, respectively, in immediate connection with recesses m, that are provided in the frame L for the reception of such lugs.

Now, when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. l-that is to say, the door is shut and it is desired to open the same-it is only necessary to swing the crank-handle B on one side or the other of the door in the direction in which it is desired to move the door, and thereby to swing the lever G and move the rod E and raise the bolt F. By thus raising the bolt its lugs/t' will be raised out of the recesses m that are outward of the inclines l, and the door-lock will be opened. A slight side pressure on the handle B will then cause the door to slide in the direction of the arrow until it reaches its open or innermost position. Upon the crank-handle B being then released the'spring g will crowd the bolt down again, causing its lugs i to enter the recesses m that are behind the inclines j, (shown in Fig. 1,) and the door will therefore be locked in its open position.

When, from the open position, it is desired to shut the door it is only necessary to swing the handle B in the direction toward which it is desired to move the door, thereby lifting the bolt again out of the recesses m that are behind the inclines j, and draw the door outward until it is entirely shut, then to release the handle B and allow the lugs i of the bolt to enter into the recesses m that are in iront of the inclines l; but even if the crank-handle B is not kept bold of during the time the dooris moved along,

the lugs i of the bolt will ndv their places in the recesses,'because they will be raised on the aforementioned inclines until theyhave arrived above the recesses m, and will then be crowded into the latter by the spring g.

Now, it is quite evident that the same principles of invention can be made use of with a swinging bolt as well as with a sliding bolt, and I therefore do'not confine myself to the use of the sliding bolt herein described, as a swinging bolt may answer the same purpose throughout. And as to the shape of the arrowhead f on the rod E, I want it to be understood that it is not necessary to have the said arrowhead shape, because a single inclination ofthe rod E will answer every purpose of lproperly moving the bolt when the same is slotted, while a single inclination either on the upper or on the lower edge of E will answer every purpose of properly moving the bolt and unlocking the same when the same is swinging.

It will be observed, also, that a peculiar characteristic of this invention is based upon the fact that the bolt F is applied to that end of the door which is opposite to the crank-h andle B, whereby the bolt is raised out of its socket, and this point I wish to be understood is the chief feature of my invention.

I claim as my invention- 1. A sliding door carrying a lock-bolt, F, at one (the inner) end, and the knob or crankhandle B, for moving said bolt, at the other (the outer) end, the handle being connected, by a lever, C, and rod E, with the bolt, for operation substantially as described.

2. The door-frame L, provided with double inclines j l, and with recesses m immediately adjoining said inclines, for the purpose of receiving the same bolt F of a sliding door in the open and in the shut position of the door, substantially as described.

WILLIAM SELLERS.

Witnesses:

F. V. BRIESEN, A. V. BRiEsEN. 

